1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and techniques for applying sprout inhibitors to potato storage facilities.
2. State of the Art
Potatoes are stored frequently over the off-season at cool temperatures in large storage facilities. A commercial sprout inhibitor has been chemically identified as Chloroisopropyl-N-carbonate (CIPC). To prevent sprouting of the potatoes, it has been conventional to treat them during storage with an aerosol of CIPC, typically derived from a solution of CIPC via a thermal aerosol device. More recently, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,935,660 and 5,965,489 to Forsythe et al., the aerosol has been derived from molten CIPC.
The technique described in these two patents is in use currently as the preferred commercial method of applying CIPC to potato storage facilities.
Using an aerosol derived from solid CIPC eliminates the introduction of solvent into the storage facility, which has certain advantages. The use of thermal aerosol generators introduces a heated aerosol stream of CIPC droplets, which cool into minute solid particles before or after contacting stored potatoes. The introduction of a warm stream into the potato storage facility may raise the temperature of the facility, which, under some conditions, tends to induce sprouting. Techniques of applying CIPC at cold temperatures have not generally been commercially economic or have been technically unsuccessful. The technique of the Plant patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,128,170 creates an aerosol of a solvent-CIPC system without use of a thermal generator, however, it was supplanted by thermal aerosol generators using a CIPC-solvent solution prior to the developments described in the above-identified Forsythe patents.